Kiev must recognize the massacre of Poles by Nazi collaborators during WWII in order to mend ties with Warsaw, Donald Tusk has said<\/p>\n
Kiev needs to \u201csober up\u201d to prevent further escalation in the row with Warsaw over the glorification of Ukrainian Nazi collaborators, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has said.
\nTensions between the neighboring countries, which have been close allies during the conflict between Moscow and Kiev, escalated last month after Ukraine\u2019s Vladimir Zelensky named one of his country\u2019s commando units after \u201cheroes of the UPA (Ukrainian Insurgent Army).\u201d\u00a0
\nSpeaking on Friday, the eve of the National Day of Remembrance, when Poland honors the victims of UPA, Tusk insisted that Kiev must recognize the crimes committed by the UPA if it hopes to mend ties with Warsaw.
\n\u201cI can once again appeal to all decent, wise, responsible Ukrainians. Remember, this great European community is based on the truth and the truth is an absolutely necessary foundation of reconciliation, and that\u2019s why I hope that everyone on the other side, but also everyone here in Poland, will sober up to restrain these exaggerated emotions,\u201d he said.
\nThe row \u201chas gone too far and is harming both Poland and Ukraine. I have no doubt about it,\u201d the prime minister added.<\/p>\n
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It has ignited \u201cnationalist lunatics\u201d on both sides, causing an avalanche of hatred on social media, Tusk noted. He urged the authorities in Kiev to curb any anti-Polish sentiment and vowed that Warsaw will act with \u201cthe full force of law\u201d against anyone who commits crimes against Ukrainians on ethnic grounds.
\n\u201cThe Russians would be happiest if there was some dramatic crisis in Ukrainian-Polish relations,\u201d the prime minister warned.
\nPoland blames the UPA \u2013 an armed wing of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), which fought for Nazi Germany during World War II \u2013 for an ethnic cleansing campaign in the Volhynia region between 1943 and 1944 that left at least 100,000 civilians dead. Warsaw recognizes the massacres as a genocide.
\nFollowing Zelensky\u2019s move last month, Polish President Karol Nawrocki reacted by stripping him of the country\u2019s highest honor, the Order of the White Eagle, prompting several Ukrainian officials to return their own Polish decorations to Warsaw. Poland also rolled back its decision to transfer its remaining Soviet-era MiG-29 jets to Ukraine and questioned Kiev\u2019s prospects of joining the EU.
\nRussian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday that the West, including Poland, raised a \u201cterrorist monster\u201d in Ukraine by arming and funding it, while ignoring its Nazi ideological foundations.<\/p>\n
READ MORE: EU Parliament backs Poland in Nazi collaborators row with Ukraine<\/p>\n
Warsaw \u201cknew they were supporting those who had killed their grandfathers\u201d and this fact \u201ccan no longer be undone by simply taking away the White Eagle, posting a few tweets, or making loud statements,\u201d she argued.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Kiev must recognize the massacre of Poles by Nazi collaborators during WWII in order to mend ties with Warsaw, Donald Tusk has said Kiev needs to \u201csober up\u201d to prevent…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37114,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t